r which had characterised him during the
earlier part of the festivities, though he faltered a little and almost
broke down when, in a speech, he referred to Flora as a bright sunbeam
whom God in His love had permitted to shine upon his path for many
years, who in prosperity had doubled his joys, and who in adversity had
taught him that the Hearer and Answerer of prayer not only can, but does
bring good out of evil, of which fact he was a living instance that day,
for it was the loss of his goods by shipwreck which had enabled him, at
a critical moment in his affairs, to make a fresh start in life, that
had now placed him on the road to prosperity, so that "_Wrecked but not
Ruined_" he thought, might be appropriately adopted as his family motto.
It was this wreck also which had, in a great measure, brought him into
intimate acquaintance with the man who had saved his daughter's life, as
well as his own (cheers), and who had that day carried off a prize
(renewed cheers), a jewel (enthusiastic cheers, in which the ladies
attempted to transcend the gentlemen), he repeated, a prize, the true
value of which was fully known only to himself.

Here the remainder of the speech--of which a few emphasised words, such
as blessings, health, prosperity, etcetera, were heard--was lost in a
burst of continuous cheering, which suddenly terminated in an uproarious
shout of laughter when Le Rue accidentally knocked the neck off a bottle
of beer, whose contents spouted directly and violently into his face!

The touch of feeling displayed in McLeod's speech filled little Mr
Gambart with an irresistible desire to start to his legs and "claim his
rights." He regarded himself, in connection with Mrs Gambart, he said,
with a winning smile at his fair partner, as the author and authoress
(humanly speaking of course) of the whole affair, by which he meant the
affair that had just come off so auspiciously. He had seen, and Mrs
Gambart had seen, from the very first, that Mr Redding was deeply in
love with Flora McLeod (as how could he be otherwise), that he, Mr
Gambart, (including Mrs Gambart), foresaw that in selling Loch Dhu to
Mr Redding he was virtually sending it back to the McLeod family; that
unless he had concealed the name of the owners at first he could not
have effected the sale, for Mr Redding at that time thought the McLeods
were--were--. Here an awful frown from Mrs Gambart, intimating that he
(Gambart) was touching on subjects whi